The present invention relates to automated telephone attendant equipment and, more particularly, to a telephone switching arrangement having one or more external lines coming into a site and a plurality of telephone devices on site in which the switching function connecting an external line to a desired device is accomplished automatically.
Automated telephone attendant ("ATA" hereafter) equipment has, in the past, involved devices primarily intended to be used in conjunction with PBX and CENTREX type systems to automatically answer incoming calls and direct the caller with voice prompts to push buttons on his telephone to route his call to the desired extension. As such, ATA equipment has made a significant impact on the way large companies handle incoming phone calls while smaller companies, i.e. those with one or two external phone lines, have been unable to take advantage of this new technology in a practical, cost effective way. It is apparent that there exists a need for a device to provide the functionality of the ATA, which currently costs $5,000 and up, but designed so as to be practical for small businesses and even for home users, as discussed below.
A single external phone line served in the past to provide adequate telephone service for small businesses and homes. With the relatively recent explosion in popularity of the facsimile (fax hereinafter) machine, this single line must now handle fax transmissions as well as the normal telephone traffic. This presents the called party with a problem in that he does not know if an incoming phone call is for the fax machine or not. Therefore, fax machines which must share a single phone line with other telephone devices are normally turned off, thus disabling automatic reception of faxes. Consequently, upon receiving a telephone call, the receiving party must manually determine whether the call is for the fax machine. These fax transmissions will be one of two types, namely, autodial or manual.
In the case of an "autodial fax" transmission, the receiving party must recognize the sending fax tone (typically a 1080Hz tone with a duration of some 500 msec every 4 seconds) and upon recognition of this tone he must activate his fax machine to receive the incoming fax. The time required to pick up the receiver and determine that the signal being received is an "autodial fax" tone often interferes with the successful handshaking of the two machines.
In the case of a "manual fax" transmission, the calling party gets on the line and tells the receiving party that he wishes to send a fax. The receiving party must first activate his fax machine, and the calling party then begins his fax transmission. Alternatively, the caller will often call the receiving party to alert him that the caller would like to send a fax (either autodial or manual). The two parties terminate the call, and the receiving party then activates his fax machine. The caller will subsequently initiate the fax transmission with a second call. When the phone rings, the receiving party does not answer his telephone presuming that it is the calling party's fax on the other end. This presents a potential problem in that the second incoming call may be an intervening call from someone else which, consequently, will be answered by the receiving party's fax machine. In any event, the receiving party must be present since his interaction is required to receive any fax transmissions. Such an arrangement is inconvenient to the receiving party who is tied down to be close to the fax machine, and it is also inconvenient to the calling party if the fax machine is left off when the receiving party is away. Furthermore, with the prior art approach, if any extension phone is picked up while a fax transmission is in progress, the resulting fax may be garbled.
In order to overcome the above-described inconveniences, two separate external lines can be installed, with one being for normal telephone traffic and the other being dedicated to the fax. However, this is an extra expense which preferably is avoided by a small business or a home user. Moreover, machines other than a fax have also come into common use in the small business environment. For example, the communication by telephone via modems between computers is growing in popularity. Therefore, perhaps a third external line would be required to handle this computer communication. Certainly, the additional expense of a further dedicated line or lines is preferably avoided by a small business. Consequently, a need exists to switch an incoming call on the external line to the appropriate telephone device (this term will be used hereinafter as inclusive of all telephone sets, machines, devices, systems, modems, etc., that can receive and/or transmit information via a telephone line) that is connected at one of the extensions.
Another difficulty faced by a small business is the unfavorable impression that is possibly created in the mind of a calling party when the person who picks up at the other end is the president of the small business rather than a receptionist or secretary. This occurrence immediately implies that the organization at the other end is a small business. Sometimes it is advantageous to avoid making such an impression, certainly as a first impression, since it is well known that company image can play a vital role in corporate success and growth. One answer to the lack of a secretary could be an ATA which transmits to the calling party a recorded audio message starting with a greeting and conveying appropriate information and instructions. However, such a system is typically rather expensive, as explained above, and few small businesses can afford one.
Various systems are currently available that have been designed for use with a single external line to connect incoming calls automatically to the desired telephone device on one of the several extensions. Examples of such systems are The Choice from Northwestern Bell Phones, The Missing Link from Multi-Link Inc. of Lexington, Kentucky, and The Fax Line Manager from Technology Concepts, Inc. of Belmont, Calif. However, as shown in FIG. 1, these systems utilize a control apparatus 1 that must have a control line 3 connected between it and the telephone device 5 that it controls. If the control apparatus is in proximity to the telephone devices that it controls, running these control lines poses little inconvenience. For example, Northwestern Bell Phones provides three 7' cords for this purpose. However, if the fax, computer, and telephone sets on various extensions are spread throughout the office or home, the installation requires a considerable amount of wiring which clearly is not only an inconvenience but also an added expense. Also, installation of the control apparatus may require some rewiring of the jack to which it is coupled. Consequently, moving control apparatus 1 to one room after it has been installed in another is troublesome.